Joining the Police Force Joining the police is natural for me; I've been into law enforcement ever since my childhood. In one episode of the 70s hit show Charlie's Angels, the athletic one of the three ex-policewomen gone private detective, blond bombshell Jill Munroe (played by Farrah Fawcett) pursues an ice cream truck as it flees the scene of an ice cream transaction gone bad. In the middle of a park, in the name of justice, Farrah steals a kid's skate board. Cue the whacha-chika guitar; Farrah's in bra-less hot pursuit on a skate board. Hair feathered back, bell bottoms flapping in the breeze, she's using all her glamorous feminine attributes to conquer evil. The truck driver who is not as agile as bra-less Farrah on a skateboard, looses control of the vehicle, crashing into a tree. Jill jumps the man, tossing him on the ground as police arrive on the scene. Jump to the 80s when Ponch and John Baker patrol the highways of California, bringing safety and a sense of order to everyday commutes. Never a stale CHiP's, these men were in touch with their sensitive side, yet man enough to recognize a good car chase when it's needed. Cue the whacha-chicka guitar as the two rev their engines with broad smiles and accelerate to hot pursuit speeds. Even at the most tense of moments, these men of polyester manage to converse normally about cool babes with cruising down the highway. The music, the roar of the engines, the wild motor bikes--all of it combined to create a giant testosterone flair up. In the 90s, the whacha-chicka guitar was retired as COPS graced the scene. Filmed on location with the men and women of the law, COPS is a reality-based program which has helped define FOX-TV. Crews follow real life cops on their real life beats, highlighting the ins and outs of their jobs. As dispatchers for Campus Security, my roommate and I watched Cops for an hour every Saturday. In between dinner and the campus entertainment, we would gather with our friends in our room to play the Cops Beverage Game we developed. Of course, it was a beverage game. Illinois state law said you must be 21 years old to consume alcoholic beverages. Given our role in Campus Security, we were not about to encourage breaking the law, or binge drinking. So we developed a beverage game which could be played by anyone, even a water addict. Fast forward to Today. Atlanta, Georgia. February 23, 2000. I, Timothy State, matriculate with a pizza dinner at the Herbert T. Jenkins Police Academy, entering Atlanta's Citizen's Police Academy. I will join a 13-week mission to educate fellow citizens about the operation of Atlanta's Police Department and provide valuable feedback to the force from the community, thus enhancing the Department's relationship with the very citizens it protects. For then next three months, I will follow a class of training police officers, studying the same materials they study. We will cover topics such as the selection and training of officers, the disciplinary process, the 911 communications center, community-oriented policing philosophy, probable cause and elements of a crime, patrol operations and the officer's experience, media awareness, criminal and crime scene investigation, K-9 demonstration, driving under the influence, the officer and the public, use of force, and judgmental use of deadly force. If successful, upon completion of my course of studies, I will graduate in a ceremony at City Hall with a class of rookie police officers and join the ranks of some forty other citizens who now form the Citizen's Police Academy Alumni Association. When the application arrived in my mail box in late January, I turned it around in three days. I could have been faster, however, I needed to notarize my sworn statement saying I made no misstatements, omissions or falsifications on my application which could result in criminal prosecution under Georgia Code 16-10-20. It took me a day or two to find a notary public, but that gave me more time to work on my essay questions. I'm proud to say I put more effort into my Citizen's Police Academy application than my college application. In the question about how I was referred to the Academy, I name-dropped, pointing out my neighbor Libby, a member of the third Citizen's Police class, had recommended me. The next question was a little tougher: "Why do you wish to attend the Citizen's Police Academy?" As much as it amused me to say, "I worshipped Jill Munroe and Ponch," or "I'm always at Krispy Kreme, anyway.," I wasn't sure those would get me in. I decided to go straight and narrow: "I hope to gain a better understanding of how the Atlanta Police Department operates and my role in the process. My hope is that I can use my position in the community to help spread the word of the good things the APD is doing and facilitate a stronger sense of goodwill between the police force of this city and its citizens. When citizens and police take a proactive public safety role, working with the police, that is when our streets become safer." I'm sure that was the cincher. But given my history with law enforcement, it's in my blood.